


a few kernels of truth

by forgetcanon



Series: and love was their savior [11]
Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 09:43:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10434948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgetcanon/pseuds/forgetcanon
Summary: Atton convinces the Jedi Exile that he wants to stick around out of sheer altruism, andnotbecause he's been threatened.





	

Atton was good with people, but it was the sort of 'good' where someone is 'good' with locks. And that meant he had a _problem_. 

Tiniat wasn't exactly the most trusting person, and Atton had made enough noises about her bad luck and how much he wanted to get gone that she'd definitely notice his sudden quiet compliance and willingness to stick around as she dragged him one one Jedi nest to another. As long as he remained useful, he doubted she'd actually try to get rid of him anytime soon. He had a few weeks, minimum, before she started to seriously examine his motives, and "your new teacher threatened me into sticking around" wasn't going to fly as an explanation.

So he'd need to figure out a good lie, and fast, but Kreia hadn't given him a time frame. As far as Atton knew he'd gotten himself sworn to protect Tiniat until she died of natural causes. 

Or, more likely, until he died taking an energy bolt for her.

...Well, between 'dying fifty years from now, in bed' and 'dying tomorrow, in agony,' Atton figured his chances had always been a lot closer to the second than the first.

 

Tiniat's boots were quiet from long wear, but he still heard her approach. She checked the navicomputer instead of saying "hello." (Did she think he'd pilot them somewhere else? Well, maybe.)

"Do you know anything about Dantooine?"

"It's quiet, boring, and won't have anything good behind the bar," Atton replied instantly. _No. Stay useful, Rand._ "And that was _before_ the SIth bombed it to dust. I think I remember a few small attempts to help out the locals, but other than that, the Jedi more-or-less abandoned the place. D'you think that master is camping out in the old temple?"

Tiniat's footsteps approached his chair. Atton turned around to actually check her location just as she folded herself into the copilot's seat. Crap. She was sticking around to talk to him, then. She didn't look like she was in an interrogating mood, but that didn't mean she couldn't get herself into one. No matter how troubled she looked by the information about the surviving Masters.

"Vrook's the last Master I'd have expected to find just hiding around..." A thought occurred to her and she scowled. "No, scratch that, he's probably 'preserving the wisdom of the order,' or however he can justify hiding out in a bombed-out wreck. He'd been teaching at that enclave longer than I've been alive."

Atton snorted. "A Jedi Master got attached? Never would have guessed!"

Tiniat's laugh was quiet and ashamed: she could and did criticize the Jedi Order, but Atton got the sense that she felt guilty about its flaws. "You never had to have him as a teacher. If you strayed a hair from his idea of how a perfect Jedi should act, you were certain to fall to the dark side. Or he just didn't like me. Hard to say."

"And a hypocrite, too? This guy is sounding wiser and wiser. I can't wait to meet him."

Tiniat shook her head. "I'm morbidly curious, myself. He isn't the sort that time can mellow."

They lapsed into silence. Atton busied himself with the monitors rather than check her expression. He could sit in silence, if he had to. It was better to let her reminisce than to draw her attention back to him. Their drift was acceptable, their fuel was depleting on schedule, and their generator was performing just as poorly as it had on the jump to Telos.

When he felt her eyes finally flick from contemplation of the past to contemplation of him, he spoke up. "So you lived on Dantooine?"

"For a few years, early on as a Knight, I was based on Dantooine. I was mostly in and out, to be honest, but I taught a few classes. Vandar was trying to get me to take on a Padawan."

"Another Master?"

"Yes. Your judgement of Dantooine is about right, from what I recall. Hopefully they get enough spaceport traffic that we can pick up some things to fix the ship. Bao-Dur mentioned that all the proper tools are onboard, but he's missing the materials to make the more serious repairs we need. He said something about the electrical system..."

Atton tuned that out. He'd leave the engineering to the engineer, but as long as Tiniat was telling him about stuff he didn't care about, she wasn't asking him why he was sticking around. But, hey, while she was at it....

Atton didn't dig into people's past for a simple reason: people would demand reciprocity. But it paid to know what was going on between people on the ship. Especially if they were the captain and the engineer.  _Especially_ if Bao-Dur's opinion of Kreia was as low as Atton suspected it was. The old witch was going to have to bring him to heel at some point.

Atton interjected when she ran herself out of recounting Bao-Dur's analysis of the ship's status. "So how do you know the big guy, anyway?"

"The big...? Oh. He served with me back in the war."

"Yeah, he mentioned." More than a few times. "But how well do you two know each other?"

Tiniat's gaze went thoughtful. "Honestly, I wouldn't have recognized him yesterday if we passed him on the street. We only met face-to-face a few times. Though.... I _do_ remember commending the engineering division several times for their 'dedication and flexibility,' or something to that effect."

Atton raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? I bet he remembers that. I get the feeling that he's watching you, and he likes what he sees."

Tiniat's mouth twitched, but her voice was serious as she side-stepped his innuendo. "I can only hope I don't let him down."

Atton shook his head. "Short of murdering an ewok pup in front of him, I don't think _anything_ you do will disappoint him. You've got an engineer for life. Or as long as you can feed him, anyway."

"How long do I have a pilot?"

He'd relaxed, and walked right into that one. Damn it.

"How long can you feed _me_?" He played it nervously, like he was _trying_ to play it cool. Every good lie had kernals of truth.

Tiniat rolled her eyes, but the ghost of a smile told him she was more frustrated with him than annoyed. He had a good shot, here. "I'm serious, Atton. If you want to get off on Dantooine, I don't think the Sith will pursue you. You're not obligated to stay with us- Bao-Dur and I _can_ pilot a ship, and you've done more than enough for us."

He remembered Bao-Dur's copiloting on the shuttle. Between the two of them and the droid they probably _could_ pilot a ship, as long as they kept it strictly to taking off and flying.  "First of all, you're not leaving me on Dantooine. At least dump me off on a refueling station, so I can count on a ride coming by at some point. Second of all, with things going as poorly as they are for you, I, ah. I think I better stick around." He avoided meeting her gaze. If he could blush on command, he would. 

Tiniat snorted. "You've got that backwards, Atton, unless you've gotten a taste for being chased and shot down. And I can't even _pay_ you."

"But you _can_ feed me." Atton grinned and spread his arms. "I've got low standards."

"And when you finally end up making that trip to the Nar Shadaa red sector? Those lovely people don't work for free."

Atton laughed sheepishly. "You've got a memory like a droid, don't you? I, I was joking about that." Again, kernals of truth.

Tiniat nodded slowly. She didn't buy his explanation- he didn't intend her to. She just had to buy that he wanted to stick around. "Mm-hmm. Well, you're free to stay, then. Just..." Her expression went a bit distant.

"Just?" Atton prompted.

"Just don't expect much from me." 

Atton hadn't seen _this_  side of her yet, even when she was in her underwear, getting ready to search a set of collapsing mine tunnels. He didn't like it. 

And he certainly wasn't going to address it.

Atton smirked. "Well, we've already blown up a planet together. I don't think we're going to top that little achievement, so we're set."

Tiniat laughed like he'd punched her in the gut. "Thanks for the reminder. I'm going to catch some sleep. Let me know when we're an hour from realspace."

"Will do." 

So he was set, for a while at least. The only problem now was if she tried to get him to open up, but Atton was good at deflecting that sort of thing. Hopefully the old witch would keep her too busy to poke at the pilot much.

And as for the rest of it, her history with Dantooine, with Bao-Dur, and that disturbing hiccup there at the end....

Atton shook his head sharply. It didn't matter. As long as he kept her alive, he'd be fulfilling his end of things.

Anything else would just complicate things. He'd already had enough complications to last him a lifetime. 

 

 


End file.
